A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how, within the past few years, anime and manga have been making their way into the world of US education, with the rise of many anime and manga-related college courses, whether it be in the field of Japanese/East Asian Cultures, Film Study, Art, Literature, or even Philosophy. Anime and manga are finally starting to get recognition as viable areas of study in many different fields. Now that I’m about to continue my education at a university, I was looking around for any anime/manga related courses I could find. I wasn’t having much luck until I unknowingly stumbled upon an anime/manga extension course that looks really promising…

Most great anime series usually get the recognition they deserve by fans. Evangelion, Code Geass, Air, Azumanga Daioh, Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, etc., have all received much deserved popularity for being credible fan favorites and overall brilliant shows, whether it be through fansubs, DVDs, or TV airings. I’m glad that many fans agree on what makes an anime series good, but of course, there are a handful of series that are excellent and yet don’t get the kind of recognition they deserve. I recently rewatched two such series so now that they’re both fresh in my mind, I feel like writing about why I think these two shows are so great…

From what I’ve seen during my years of anime fandom, there are generally two kinds of fans; those who mostly watch their anime by buying the official DVDs and those who mostly watch their anime via fansubs. Putting the limited amount of anime aired on English TV aside, DVDs and fansubs are really the only other sources for watching anime. But I’ve noticed that some fans who are dedicated to buying the official DVDs (and may also have morals which put them against downloading fansubs) have a poor respect and think little of fans who only download fansubs and don’t support the anime market by buying the DVDs. Since I’m one of those fans who watches almost all my anime via fansubs, I want to point out the main reason why I do so and don’t buy the DVDs when they come out; I’d like to buy them, but I simply can’t afford it…

I’ve only held one other image contest besides this one, which was about a year ago back in summer 2006. But now that I finally have some much-needed vacation time, I decided to have a second one. The main reason why I’m having AnimeYume’s 2nd image contest (same reason for why I held the first one actually) is because I’m tired of looking at the same old splash and homepage banners, and since I lack the computer programs (like Photoshop) to make nice site banners myself, why not let my visitors make these images for me and reward the ones that do the best job? =) I’m making this contest better than the first one by having more lenient rules and offering better prizes.

Anyway, you can find out all the rules and details about the contest here. My appreciation goes out to everyone who participates ^^ I look forward to seeing your entries!

Back when I first started getting into anime about seven years ago, I never thought that you could bring your passion for anime into the realm of school work, at least not here in the US. Even though I think that some anime are complex and philosophical enough to be placed on the same level as the works of literature they teach about in high school and college, I never thought that there would be actual anime-centered classes at regular colleges and universities, nor that one would be able to relate anime to assigned school reports…

Well, I’m back with two new anime sections on the main AnimeYume.com site. I’ve literally spent all of the past couple of days working on them but I think they came out pretty good ^^ So check out the new Death Note and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya sections! (BTW, about the Haruhi section, I made an html version of the timeline I posted a while ago, and also updated it with some images). I’m really not sure if I’ll have time for more anime sections anytime soon but maybe.

Anyway, these past few posts here on the blog haven’t been very “blog-ish” (just stuff about the main site and my own personal life) so I really want to get back on track with good blog posts, and also catch up with my Inuyasha chapter reviews and other stuff. But I also need to catch up on my Japanese studies and my backlog of anime to watch…::sigh:: even on vacation there’s not enough time to do all the stuff you gotta do =P But regardless I’ll definitely be back here on the blog soon!